A day after he triggered a media controversy with his comments about the lack of a “credible face” (to lead the country), Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday dismissed that his statement was aimed at Narendra Modi. He also tried to put to rest all media speculations about his reservations for Modi
saying he had already given his “best wishes” to the Gujarat CM on his appointment as chairman of the BJP’s national Campaign Committee.“What I had said on Friday about the country needing a reliable face was in the context of the Congress which is currently ruling. I was talking about the Congress,” he told reporters blaming the media for misinterpreting his remarks.
“Why I should clarify on things which I have not said in my speech (on Friday)IJ The media is also a responsible part of society,” he said, adding “Then you people say that Uddhav has made a U-turn.”Uddhav, though, underlined that Hindutva or emotive issues like Ram Temple would not be at the centrestage and Opposition’s campaign would be focused on the “burning problems” arising out of the “misrule” of the UPA Government. “The 2014 election is for the post of the Prime Minister and not for any Hindutva committee. Issues of good governance, price rise and similar things will be our focus,” Thackeray said.
The Sena chief said his party could respond to the issues of NDA’s Prime Ministerial candidate only after the BJP’s Parliamentary Board takes a call on the issue. To a question about Shiv Sena’s support to Sushma Swaraj as the PM candidate when Bal Thackeray was alive, he said when his father spoke of the issue, no other leader’s name was doing the rounds.
He said the decision about the PM candidate is to be taken “within four walls” and suggested that he does not want to complicate matters by making any remarks. He brushed aside a question that editorials in the Sena mouthpiece Saamana reflected the dilemma of his party over Modi. “If someone has this impression, then he does not understand Marathi,” he said.
He was also dismissive of a question that whether the next polls would be a Rahul Gandhi vs Narendra Modi affair. “Get over all these things. Talk of corruption, unemployment, slide of rupee despite the Prime Minister being an economist. Now even the idols of god are being imported like leaders,” he said.At the same time, he wondered how can Hindu nationalism be a matter of a debate and what was wrong if one says that he was a Hindu nationalist. The remark was in apparent support to Modi, who had recently described himself as a Hindu nationalist.
To another question, he said that the BJP had never stepped back on the Hindutva. Asked who could be the new allies of the BJP-led NDA, which now only consists of the Shiv Sena and the Akali Dal, he parried a direct answer but spoke of a possible wave in favour of the Opposition alliance as “people are fed up”.He dismissed suggestions that his Delhi trip was to get the convenership of the NDA. He said his talks with BJP leaders were more of a “family affair” in which his wife and son were also present.